Jimmy Fallon is roasting the president about his grand welcome ceremony for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“President Trump is hosting China’s President Xi Jinping for a two-day state visit. And yesterday, Trump greeted Xi at the airport with a big ceremony, including a military flyover,” said the late-night host.
Fallon panned to footage of the welcome ceremony for Xi Jinping and his wife, who arrived in the U.S. for a three-day state visit. The Chinese president flew into Joint Base Andrews in Maryland and was welcomed by Trump and the first lady with a red carpet, a performance of the national anthem by the U.S. Navy band, accompanied by two B-1 bombers flying overhead.
The latter had Trump rattled. The president, 80, visibly flinched and grimaced as the planes whirred.
“It’s like he just saw his approval rating!” joked Fallon.
“Meanwhile, look at President Xi when it happened. Yeah. Ten minutes into his visit, he’s already over it. You know what I’m saying?” Fallon displayed an image of the 73-year-old Chinese leader looking thoroughly unimpressed.
Fallon went on to roast the president’s state dinner for Jinping, saying, “Trump walked into the dining room and said, ‘Where the hell is Xi?’ The staffer said, ‘The president of China is right there. If you’re talking about Melania, we have no idea.’”
Fallon isn’t the only late-night host to mercilessly mock the incident.
Jimmy Kimmel mocked Trump’s palpable fear of the planes, saying it looked like the president was “in trouble.”
He also called Xi’s visit “a rare opportunity for Trump to thank the leader of the country where his ‘God Bless the USA’ Bibles are made in person.”
Meanwhile, The Daily Show’s Desi Lydic joined in, saying Trump failed to show China that “America never wavers and never flinches.”
“Why did you wince like that?” she asked of Trump. “You are the one who ordered the flyover! It’s like when a baby farts so loud that it scares itself.”
Jordan Klepper added, “Well, the leader of China was greeted by an old man scared of loud noises, then driven past a drained reflecting pool into the half-demolished ruins of the White House.”
